Jean de Nivelle is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. It premiered on 6 March 1880 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, with Jean-Alexandre Talazac, a French tenor, in the title role. The story is based on the historical figure Jean de Nivelle, a member of the House of Montmorency who refused to join with his father, Jean II de Montmorency, in supporting Louis XI in his war against Charles the Bold. Although originally described as an opéra comique, in many respects it is close to the grand opera tradition typified by Meyerbeer. The opera proved popular in its day, with 100 performances in the year following its premiere. Between 1881 and 1882, it was also performed at La Monnaie in Brussels, Saint Petersburg, Copenhagen, Budapest, Vienna, and Stockholm. Then, it disappeared from the repertoire and was only revived in Paris in 1908, at the Théâtre Municipal de la Gaîté-Lyrique. In the 1908 revival the role of Arlette was sung by Marianne Nicot, the daughter of the creator of the role, while the title role was sung by David Devriès. Franz Liszt in 1881, in his late sparse style, began to compose a free fantasy on the orchestral introduction to the opera, followed by the introduction to the ballad itself. But the manuscript is incomplete and unfinished. It is numbered S698 in Liszt's catalogue of works, and is the only operatic fantasy Liszt contemplated on themes by Delibes. Roles Synopsis After an orchestral prelude the action opens in the Burgundian country, early in the reign of Louis XI. The curtain rises on grape-pickers who look vexedly after a young shepherd who goes away without replying to their calls: it is Jean de Nivelle – not long in the region having come from an unknown place. Wild and mysterious, he slips away as soon as someone thinks they know who he is. This excites the curiosity of the old hag Simone. She is consumed with jealousy and anger for her son Thibaut, a bad lad in prison for theft, whom she wants to marry her niece Arlette, but the latter hates Thibaut, and has fallen in love with Jean. Arlette herself suspects that the handsome shepherd might be the Duke Jean de Montmorency, who fled the royal court to avoid a futile marriage and who is hiding himself from the